2011-12 Schedule
Notre Dame’s Possible Starting Lineup
(C = captain // 2010-11 statistics listed)No Name Pos Ht Yr* PPG RPG Other Notes
14 Devereaux Peters (C) F 6-2 5th 11.9 7.5 1.7 bpg • Preseason A-A/’11 Final Four All-Tourn. 4 Skylar Diggins G 5-9 Jr. 15.0 4.0 4.8 apg • Preseason A-A/BIG EAST Player of Year 21 Natalie Novosel (C) G 5-11 Sr. 15.1 4.0 1.9 spg • Preseason A-A/22 pts from 1,000 career 22 Brittany Mallory (C) G 5-10 5th 7.1 2.2 2.7 apg • Career-high .402 3FG% last season 23 Kayla McBride G 5-11 So. 8.7 3.3 1.5 apg • Also had stellar .557 FG% last season
Off the Bench For the Fighting Irish
3 Whitney Holloway G 5-4 Fr. — — — • 2.82 A/TO ratio, 2 state titles in HS 5 Madison Cable G 5-11 Fr. — — — • ’11 Gatorade Pa. POY; 3-time state champ 11 Natalie Achonwa F 6-3 So. 6.9 5.3 1.1 apg • ’11 BE All-Freshman Team; .566 FG% 12 Fraderica Miller G 5-10 Sr. 1.9 2.1 1.5 spg • 6.09 stls/40 min last year (led nation) 15 Kaila Turner G 5-8 Jr. 2.7 1.1 1.7 apg • 2nd on team last yr w/ 1.3 A/TO ratio 34 Markisha Wright F 6-2 Fr. — — — • led HS to 1st state title in 32 yrs in ’10-11 44 Ariel Braker F 6-1 So. 1.6 2.2 0.5 bpg • 1 reb./2.7 min last year (led team) * = players listed by academic class (Mallory and Peters are fifth-year seniors who have earned their undergraduate degrees and are in graduate studies) Pronunciations: Achonwa (uh-CHAWN-wuh); Fraderica (fruh-DARE-uh-kuh); Kaila (KAY-luh); Markisha (marr-KEY-shuh); Novosel (KNOW-vuh-sell)
2011-12 ND Women’s Basketball: Exhibition 1
#2/2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (31-8 / 13-3 BIG EAST in 2010-11) vs. Windsor (Ontario) Lancers (34-2 / 20-2 OUA West in 2010-11)
uDATE: November 2, 2011 uTIME: 7:00 p.m. ET
uAT: Notre Dame, Ind.
Purcell Pavilion (9,149) uSERIES: First meeting
uWEBCAST: UND.com (live)
uRADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) (live) Bob Nagle, p-b-p uLIVE STATS: UND.com
uLIVE CHAT: UND.com/blog
Storylines
u Notre Dame is 31-1 (.969) in exhibition
games since 1993-94, including an active 26-game preseason winning streak.
u The Fighting Irish last played an international
opponent in an exhibition back in 2000-01, defeating Finnish club Tapiolan Honka, 98-53, behind a near triple-double from current Notre Dame assistant coach Niele Ivey (nine
points, 10 rebounds, eight assists).
L
ess than seven months after a captivating run to the NCAA national championship game, Notre Dame returns to the court at 7 p.m. (ET) Wednesday as the second-ranked Fighting Irish play host to the reigning Canadian national champion, the University of Windsor, in an exhibition game at Purcell Pavilion. The game will be webcast live and free of charge on the of-ficial Notre Dame athletics web site, UND.com. Notre Dame returns four starters and nine monogram winners from last year’s NCAA final-ist squad, with three of those starters earning All-America honors last year, as well as pre-season accolades this season.That trio — junior guard Skylar Diggins, senior guard Natalie No-vosel and fifth-year senior forward Devereaux Peters — also led the United States to a 6-0record and the gold medal at the 2011 World University Games in Shenzhen, China.
Rankings
u Notre Dame is No. 2 in the preseason
As-sociated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls.
u Windsor is ranked No. 2 in the preseason
Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) poll.
Web Sites
u Notre Dame: www.UND.com
u Windsor: www.golancers.ca
u BIG EAST: www.bigeast.org
u OUA: www.oua.ca
Setting The Standard
Under the guidance of 25th-year head coach
Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame has evolved into
one of the country’s leading women’s basketball powers. The Irish have appeared in 18 NCAA Tournaments (including a current streak of 16 in a row) and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 nine times in the past 15 seasons. Notre Dame also has reached the NCAA Women’s Final Four three times, winning college basketball’s ulti-mate prize with the 2001 national championship. In its history, Notre Dame has developed 13 All-Americans, 10 WNBA players (including seven draft picks in the past 11 years) and 14 in-ternational basketball veterans (24 medals won). Now in their 35th season in 2011-12, the Irish own an all-time record of 720-310 (.699).
Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw
Saint Joseph’s ’77u 25th season at Notre Dame
• 556-211 (.725) at Notre Dame • 644-252 (.719) in 30th season overall
u 2011 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductee u 2001 consensus National Coach of the Year u Four-time Naismith Coach of the Year finalist u Four-time conference Coach of the Year u 2011-12 NCAA D-I Issues Committee (chair) u 2009 WBCA Carol Eckman Award recipient
0-0 / 0-0 BIG EAST
N2 (2/2) Windsor (exhibition) 7:00 ET N11 Akron1 7:00 ET N13 Detroit/Indiana State1 2:00 ET N17 Preseason WNIT Semifinal1 7:00 ET N20 Preseason WNIT Final1-CBSSN 2:00 ET N25 vs. USC2 5:45 ET N26 vs. Duke/Gardner-Webb2 5:45/8:00 ET D2 Pennsylvania 7:00 ET D4 @ Creighton 2:35 ET D7 • Marquette 7:00 ET D10 @ PurdueBTN Noon ET D18 KentuckyESPNU 1:00 ET D20 Central Florida 7:00 ET D28 Longwood 2:00 ET D30 @ Mercer 7:00 ET J4 • @ Seton Hall 7:00 ET J7 • ConnecticutCBS 4:00 ET J10 • @ GeorgetownCBSSN 7:00 ET J14 • @ Cincinnati 3:00 ET J17 • Pittsburgh 7:00 ET J21 • Villanova 1:00 ET J23 TennesseeESPN2-BM 7:00 ETJ28 • @ St. John’sBETV Noon ET
J31 • @ RutgersCBSSN 7:00 ET
F5 • DePaulESPNU 1:00 ET
F7 • @ Syracuse 7:00 ET
F12 • West VirginiaESPNU 3:30 ET
F14 • Providence 7:00 ET
F20 • @ LouisvilleESPN-BM 2:00 ET
F25 • South Florida 2:00 ET
F27 • @ ConnecticutESPN2-BM 9:00 ET
M4 BIG EAST 1st Round3 TBA
M5 BIG EAST 2nd Round3-BETV TBA
M6 BIG EAST Quarterfinal3-ESPNU TBA
M7 BIG EAST Semifinal3-ESPNU 6/8:00 ET
M8 BIG EAST Final3-ESPN/ESPN2 7:00 ET
M18 NCAA 1st Round4-ESPN/ESPN2 TBA
M20 NCAA 2nd Round4-ESPN/ESPN2 TBA
M24-27 NCAA Regionals
5-ESPN TBA
A1 NCAA National Semifinals6-ESPN TBA
A3 NCAA Championship Game6-ESPN TBA
(x) = numbers before opponent name indicate ND rank in Associated Press/ESPN-USA Today polls; numbers after are opponent rank; when only one ranking is shown, it is from the AP poll.
• = BIG EAST Conference game
1 = Preseason WNIT (campus sites; teams guaranteed min. three games) 2 = Junkanoo Jam (St. Georges High School - Freeport, Bahamas) 3 = BIG EAST Championship (XL Center - Hartford, Conn.) 4 = NCAA 1st/2nd rounds (Purcell Pavilion - Notre Dame, Ind.) 5 = NCAA Regionals (at Des Moines, Fresno, Kingston, Raleigh) 6 = NCAA Women’s Final Four (Pepsi Center - Denver, Colo.) BM = Games to be televised as part of ESPN’s Big Monday package CBSSN = Games to be televised on CBS Sports Network BETV = Games to be televised on BIG EAST Network (syndicated) BTN = Game to be televised on Big Ten Network
NOTE: All home games not scheduled for commercial TV will be webcast live and free of charge on www.UND.com.
All games will be broadcast live on South Bend’s Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) and worldwide on the Internet at www.UND.com.
All times Eastern // Dates and times subject to change
NOTRE DAME
Women’s Basketball 2011-12
2001 NCAA Champion • 2011 NCAA National Finalist
1997 NCAA Final Four • 9 NCAA Sweet 16 Berths
Notre Dame Athletic Media Relations C112 Joyce Center, Second Floor Notre Dame, IN 46556 phone (574) 631-7516 // fax (574) 631-7941 Chris Masters, Associate Media Relations Director (WBB) masters.5@nd.edu // cell (574) 532-4166 Media Services
The official Notre Dame athletics web site contains schedules, rosters, updated statistics and some historical information from previous seasons. High-resolution color headshots and action photos of Fighting Irish players, coaches and staff are available upon request.
Official Notre Dame athletics web site:
• http://www.UND.com
In-Season Interview Policy
All requests for Notre Dame player, coach or staff interviews must be made through Chris Masters and 24 hours’ notice
is appreciated. Please be aware that student-athletes’ academic obligations always take precedence before any interview requests.
Media members also may speak to Fighting Irish team personnel before or after practice sessions. While most practices are open to the media, some may be closed at the coaching staff’s discretion — contact Chris Masters
for the latest practice schedule and availability. On game days, no interviews will be granted with any Notre Dame player or coach prior to competition. Credentials / Parking
Season credentials will be issued to all media covering the Fighting Irish on a regular basis. Please note — all Notre Dame basketball season credentials offer access to both Fighting Irish women’s and men’s basketball games. For single-game credentials, contact Chris Masters no
later than 24 hours before tipoff. Credential requests may be submitted via phone, fax or e-mail. Passes will be left at the media will call entrance (Gate 8) of Purcell Pavilion. Parking is free for all Fighting Irish women’s basketball games in the large lot south of Purcell Pavilion. Media mem-bers may park in the Gold Lot (adjacent to the baseball/ soccer stadia southeast of the arena). Broadcast media may temporarily stop at the Gate 6 (loading dock) arena entrance to unload/load their equipment, but then must park in the designated media lot.
Credentials remain the property of the University of Notre Dame and may be revoked at any time.
Game Notes
Notre Dame’s game notes package is made available on-line through the official Fighting Irish athletics web site during the season, usually at least one day prior to tipoff. Notre Dame’s game notes are in Adobe PDF format and will be distributed via electronic means only (e-mail or web). Please contact Chris Masters if you wish to be added
to the e-mail distribution list for Notre Dame’s regular women’s basketball releases.
Gameday Services
Gameday packages containing game notes, programs and other information will be available prior to all home contests. A pre-game meal also will be served in the Monogram Room media area (exit through stands above Gate 6 to right of press row, entrance on right after exiting outer concourse doors) beginning one hour before tipoff. A bank of statistics monitors is located on press row for the media’s convenience. Final statistics books include an official NCAA box score and play-by-play. Purcell Pavilion also offers wireless Internet capability — check with Chris Masters for access.
Post-Game Interviews
Following each Notre Dame home game, Fighting Irish head coach Muffet McGraw and selected players, as
well as the visiting head coach and selected players, will be available to speak with the media. Post-game press conferences are held in the Hammes Auditorium, located between Gates 1 & 2 on the first floor of Purcell Pavilion (exit court via Gate 1 ramp on opposite end of court from press row, go straight and turn right at the Notre Dame women’s basketball office; auditorium entrance will be on your left). Media members should submit player requests for post-game interviews to Chris Masters at the final media
timeout of the second half.
Covering the Irish
Quick Hitters
• Notre Dame is ranked second in the pre-season version of both major national polls. That’s the highest debut for the Fighting Irish in either poll, topping their No. 4 AP ranking to open 2009-10, and their No. 5 ESPN/USA
Today position to start 2000-01.
• With its No. 2 preseason ranking in the Associated Press poll, Notre Dame has appeared in the AP poll for 78 consecutive weeks, extending a program record that dates back to the 2007-08 preseason poll. In fact, every current Fighting Irish player has competed for a ranked Notre Dame squad throughout her career, with more than half that time (40 weeks) spent in the AP Top 10. • The Fighting Irish now have been made the
preseason AP poll in 12 of the past 13 years (since 1999-2000), something only seven other schools in the country can match. • Notre Dame could play as many as half (12)
of the other 24 teams in the preseason AP poll if they meet No. 1 Baylor (would be in Preseason WNIT final Nov. 20) and No. 8 Duke (Junkanoo Jam on Nov. 26). • Senior guards Fraderica Miller and Natalie
Novosel have helped Notre Dame win 82
games to date, the second-most victories by a Fighting Irish class in its first three sea-sons, trailing only the one-player 2001-02 senior class of Ericka Haney, who was a part of 87 wins through the end of her junior year (including the 2001 national championship).
• Head coach Muffet McGraw is fourth
on Notre Dame’s all-time coaching wins list (across all sports), trailing only men’s/ women’s fencing coach Michael DeCicco
(774-80 from 1962-95), men’s tennis/wres-tling coach Tom Fallon (579-268-4 from
1957-87) and baseball skipper Jake Kline
(558-449-5 from 1934-75).
• McGraw also is just the ninth Fighting Irish coach in the 125-year history of Notre Dame athletics to lead her team for 25 seasons, and the first to solely coach a women’s sport (Joe Piane is in his 37th year as men’s/
women’s track & field coach, while Michael DeCicco guided both Fighting Irish fencing
teams during his 34-year career). Four of the nine members of this Silver Anniversary coaching club currently are active at Notre Dame — Piane (37 years), Tim Welsh
(28th year with men’s swimming & diving), McGraw and Bob Bayliss (25th year with
men’s tennis).
Other Notre Dame Notables
• Notre Dame is among the nation’s win-ningest programs during the past 16 seasons (1996-97
to present), rank-ing fifth with 374 victories.
• Notre Dame has ranked among the top 20 in the na-tion in attendance each of the past 11 seasons. Last year, the program
finished fifth in the NCAA attendance rank-ings with a school-record 8,553 fans per game, topping the previous year’s mark of 8,377. The Fighting Irish also have drawn 5,000-or-more fans to 158 of their last 160 home games, logging 17 Purcell Pavilion sellouts (most recently on Feb. 26, 2011, vs. Cincinnati).
• The Fighting Irish have become a regular fixture in the WNBA Draft in recent years, as seven Notre Dame players have been se-lected in the past 11 seasons. Charel Allen
was the most recent Fighting Irish player to be chosen, going to the Sacramento Mon-archs in the third round (43rd overall pick) of the 2008 WNBA Draft. Ruth Riley (San
Antonio) was active in the league during the ’11 season, helping the Silver Stars return to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. Three of Notre Dame’s eight WNBA alums have won a total of four league champion-ships — Riley won a pair of crowns with the Detroit Shock (2003 Finals MVP, 2006),
Coquese Washington toiled for the 2000
Houston Comets, while Jacqueline Bat-teast was Riley’s teammate on the 2006
title-winning squad in Detroit.
• For the fifth year in a row, the Fighting Irish posted a perfect 100-percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), according to figures released by the NCAA in October. What’s more, since Muffet McGraw became head
coach in 1987, every Notre Dame women’s basketball player who has completed her
Winningest Teams (1996-97 to present) 509 Connecticut 475 Tennessee 433 Duke 385 Louisiana Tech u374 NOTRE DAME 370 Old Dominion 365 Purdue
NOTE: through end of 2010-11. #7/8 Texas A&M 76, #9/7 Notre Dame 70
NCAA Women’s Final Four — National Championship April 5, 2011
Conseco Fieldhouse (Indianapolis, Ind.) Notre Dame (70)
Player min fg-a 3fg-a ft-a reb ast pf tp
Peters 36 8-10 0-0 5-8 11 1 4 21 Bruszewski 35 3-4 0-0 0-0 2 0 1 6 Diggins 39 7-19 1-5 8-9 3 3 0 23 Novosel 27 5-10 0-1 4-4 4 0 4 14 Mallory 37 1-6 1-4 1-2 1 3 2 4 Achonwa 10 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 5 0 Miller 10 0-1 0-0 0-1 4 2 3 0 Turner 6 0-1 0-0 2-2 0 1 0 2 Team 3 Totals 200 24-52 2-10 20-26 29 10 19 70 Texas A&M (76)
Player min fg-a 3fg-a ft-a reb ast pf tp
White 40- 7-9 1-1 3-5 5 4 3 18 Elonu 33 4-10 0-0 1-3 7 1 3 9 Adams 39 13-22 0-2 4-7 9 0 3 30 Carter 38 2-6 1-2 0-0 5 4 5 5 Colson 30 2-4 0-2 6-6 0 5 4 10 Snow 0+ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 Windham 0+ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 Grant 0+ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 Baker 10 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 Collins 0+ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 Pratcher 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 Gilbert 7 0-0 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 2 Assarian 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 Team 4 Totals 200 29-53 2-7 16-23 32 14 21 76 Notre Dame 35 35 — 70 Texas A&M 33 43 — 76
FG Pct: Notre Dame 46.2, Texas A&M 54.7. 3-PT FG Pct:
Notre Dame 20.0, Texas A&M 28.6. FT Pct: Notre Dame 76.9,
Texas A&M 69.6. Turnovers: Notre Dame 16, Texas A&M 18. Blocked Shots: Notre Dame 3 (Bruszewski 2), Texas A&M 4
(Carter 2). Steals: Notre Dame 10 (Diggins 4), Texas A&M 8
(Colson 3). Attendance: 17,473. LAST IRISH GAME
2
2011-12 Notre Dame Women’s Basketballfighting irish women’s basketball 2011-12
NOTRE DAME
Around the BIG EAST
athletic and academic eligibility at the Uni-versity has earned her bachelor’s degree (a 64-for-64 success rate). The Fighting Irish also are one of only four schools in the past four years to record a 100-percent GSR and play for a national championship in the same season.
A Quick Look At Windsor
Much like Notre Dame’s storybook run a year ago, it was a magical 2010-11 season for the University of Windsor, as the Lancers rolled to a 34-2 record and their first Canadian Interuniver-sity Sport (CIS) national championship, hoisting the Bronze Baby Trophy in front of their own fans with a 63-49 victory over Saskatchewan at the St. Denis Centre in Windsor, Ontario. In the process, the three-time Ontario Univer-sity Athletics (OUA) champion Lancers became the first Canadian national champion in 19 years to come from outside the powerful Canada West Conference.
Windsor has four starters back from last year’s squad, led by arguably the best Cana-dian college player in junior center Jessica Clemencon, and a pair of youth national team
members in junior guard Miah-Marie Langlois
and sophomore guard Korissa Williams.
The Lancers have played six preseason games already, participating in tournaments at Ryerson University and the University of Calgary and posting a 5-1 record along the way. Not surprisingly, Clemencon has been her team’s top threat thus far, averaging 17.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, while Williams adds 11.3 points and 5.8 rebounds a night.
As a team, Windsor is averaging 75.8 points per game this season with a +14.5 rebounding margin, bolstered by a roster that includes four players standing 6-foot-3 or taller.
Head coach Chantal Vallee is in her seventh
season at Windsor.
The Notre Dame-Windsor Series
Wednesday will mark the first time Notre Dame and Windsor have played in the sport of women’s basketball.
Other Notre Dame-Windsor
Series Tidbits
• Notre Dame has one Canadian player on its roster in sophomore forward Natalie Achonwa. The Guelph, Ontario, native is the
first international player in the 35-year his-tory of the Fighting Irish women’s basketball program and earned BIG EAST All-Freshman Team honors last year after averaging 6.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. • Although this is their first meeting on the
hardwood, Notre Dame and Windsor are no strangers to one another on the track, with Fighting Irish teams having competed regularly in the Windsor Team Challenge through the years, particularly when former assistant/associate head coach John Mil-lar (a Toronto native and world-renowned
sprints coach) was on the Notre Dame staff from 1990-2009 before taking over as head coach at Wake Forest.
Exhibition Excellence For The Irish
Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable in exhibition games during the past 18 seasons. Since the 1993-94 campaign, the Fighting Irish are 31-1 (.969) in these preseason tilts and own an active 26-game exhibition winning streak. During that time, Notre Dame has outscored its preseason opponents by an aggregate score of 2,818-1,836, which is good for an average score of 88-57. The last squad to defeat the Fighting Irish in exhibition play was the Lithuanian National Team, which edged Notre Dame, 94-89 in 1996-97. However, the Fighting Irish were not fazed by that loss — they went on to reach their first NCAA Final Four that season.New NCAA rules in recent years have al-lowed Division I teams to play exhibitions against Division II, III, NAIA or Canadian institu-tions. The Fighting Irish are 10-0 against these programs, having downed 10 NCAA Division II schools since 2001 (Christian Brothers in 2001-02, Indianapolis and Ferris State in 2005-06, Lake Superior State and Northwood (Mich.) in 2006-07, Southern Indiana and Hillsdale in 2007-08, Gannon in 2008-09, Indianapolis again in 2009-10 and Michigan Tech last year). Beginning with the 2008-09 season, Notre Dame has played just one exhibition game, electing to take part in a closed scrimmage in place of a second preseason contest.
Here’s a look at how Notre Dame has fared since 1993-94 in exhibition games (college op-ponents in italics):
2010-11 W, 102-30 vs. Michigan Tech University 2009-10 W, 97-53 vs. University of Indianapolis 2008-09 W, 96-30 vs. Gannon University 2007-08 W, 90-38 vs. University of Southern Indiana
W, 96-64 vs. Hillsdale College
2006-07 W, 82-55 vs. Lake Superior State University W, 82-35 vs. Northwood (Mich.) University 2005-06 W, 84-59 vs. University of Indianapolis
W, 96-45 vs. Ferris State University 2004-05 W, 84-52 vs. Premier Sports W, 80-61 vs. Hoosier Lady Stars 2003-04 W, 85-65 vs. Northwest Sports W, 78-45 vs. Team Concept 2002-03 W, 87-50 vs. Houston Jaguars W, 70-60 vs. OGBM Legends 2001-02 W, 76-62 vs. OGBM Legends
W, 87-39 vs. Christian Brothers University 2000-01 W, 98-53 vs. Tapiolan Honka (Finland) W, 91-56 vs. Ohio All-Stars 1999-00 W, 76-51 vs. EOS Malbas (Slovakia) W, 94-85 vs. Premier All-Stars 1998-99 W, 88-37 vs. Estonian National Team W, 111-82 vs. Visby Ladies (Sweden) 1997-98 W, 66-34 vs. Slavyanka (Russia) W, 103-923OT vs. Brisbane Blazers (Australia) 1996-97 W, 74-54 vs. Dutch National Team L, 89-94 vs. Lithuanian National Team 1995-96 W, 90-83OT vs. Hoosier All-Stars
W, 93-85 vs. Sopron (Hungary) 1994-95 W, 80-63 vs. Athletes in Action
W, 84-65 vs. Australian Institute for Sport (AIS) 1993-94 W, 109-59 vs. BK Strakonice (Czechoslovakia)
Other Exhibition Game Tidbits
• Notre Dame has won their last five exhibi-tion games (dating back to 2007-08) against NCAA Division II schools by an average of 53.2 points per game, while scoring 96.2 ppg., in those contests.
• In their last three preseason games, the Fighting Irish have forced an average of 38.3 turnovers per game (115 total - 46 vs. Gannon in 2008-09; 36 vs. Indianapolis in 2009-10; 33 vs. Michigan Tech in 2010-11). • For the third consecutive year, Notre Dame 2011-12 Notre Dame Women’s Basketball
fighting irish women’s basketball 2011-12
NOTRE DAME
2010-11 Standings
(FINAL) BIG EAST OverallW L W L (1/3) Connecticut 16 0 36 2 u(9/2) NOTRE DAME 13 3 31 8 (10/10) DePaul 13 3 29 7 Rutgers 11 5 20 13 (24/25) Marquette 10 6 24 9 (-/19) Louisville 10 6 22 12 St. John’s 9 7 22 11 (22/14) Georgetown 9 7 24 11 Syracuse 9 7 25 9 West Virginia 8 8 24 10 Providence 6 10 13 16 Pittsburgh 5 11 14 17 South Florida 3 13 12 19 Villanova 3 13 12 19 Cincinnati 2 14 9 20 Seton Hall 1 15 8 22
(n) Ranking in final ’10-11 Associated Press/ESPN-USA Today polls
2011-12 Preseason Awards
Player of the Year ... Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame
Freshman of the Year ....Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Connecticut 2011-12 Preseason
All-BIG EAST Team^
Kayla Alexander, Jr., C ...Syracuse
*Skylar Diggins, Jr., G ... Notre Dame
*Keisha Hampton, Sr., F ... DePaul Bria Hartley, So., G ... Connecticut Tiffany Hayes, Sr., G ... Connecticut
Natalie Novosel, Sr., G ... Notre Dame Devereaux Peters, 5th-Yr. Sr., F ... Notre Dame
Monique Reid, Sr., F ... Louisville *Sugar Rodgers, Jr., G ... Georgetown Shoni Schimmel, So., G ... Louisville Shenneika Smith, Jr., G ...St. John’s Da’Shena Stevens, Sr., F ...St. John’s
* - unanimous selection // ^ - extra player added due to tie in voting
2011-12 Preseason
All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention Stefanie Dolson, So., C ... Connecticut Khadijah Rushdan, Sr.-RS, G ... Rutgers April Sykes, Sr., G/F ... Rutgers Andrea Smith, Sr., G... South Florida 2011-12 Preseason Coaches’ Poll
1. Notre Dame (9 first-place votes) ... 219 points
2. Connecticut (7) ...216 3. Louisville ...191 4. Rutgers ...176 5. Georgetown ...175 6. DePaul ...152 7. St. John’s...145 8. Syracuse ...123 9. West Virginia ...108 10. South Florida ...96 11. Marquette ...92 12. Pittsburgh ...62 13. Villanova ...54 14. Providence...51 15. Cincinnati ...38 16. Seton Hall ...22
National Polls
Associated Press Poll
• October 29, 2011: Poll #1 (Preseason)
Team (First-Place Votes) Rec Pts LP 1 uBaylor (33) 0-0 988 3 2 NOTRE DAME (6) 0-0 934 9 3 uTennessee 0-0 906 4 4 uConnecticut 0-0 876 1 5 Stanford 0-0 852 2 6 Texas A&M (1) 0-0 772 7 7 Miami (Fla.) 0-0 750 11 8 uDuke 0-0 705 6 9 uLouisville 0-0 690 — 10 uGeorgetown 0-0 585 22 11 Maryland 0-0 569 16 12 Penn State 0-0 491 — 13 Georgia 0-0 432 — 14 Florida State 0-0 428 15 15 Oklahoma 0-0 344 21 16 uRutgers 0-0 283 — 17 uPurdue 0-0 277 — 18 uKentucky 0-0 275 17 19 uDePaul 0-0 263 10 20 North Carolina 0-0 261 14 21 LSU 0-0 228 — 22 uUCLA 0-0 175 8 23 uUSC 0-0 158 — 24 Texas 0-0 152 — 25 uSt. John’s 0-0 151 — Others Receiving Votes: Ohio State 118, Michigan State 95, Gonzaga 57, Texas Tech 41, Wisconsin-Green Bay 32, Iowa 20, California 19, Georgia Tech 17, Kansas State 15, Iowa State 12, Xavier 6, Dayton 4, Marist 4, Temple 4, Vanderbilt 4, Florida 2, Oral Roberts 2, uMarquette 1,
uPittsburgh 1, Delaware 1.
ESPN/USA Today/WBCA Coaches’ Poll
• November 1, 2011: Poll #1 (Preseason)
Team (First-Place Votes) Rec Pts LP 1 uBaylor (17) 0-0 745 5 2 NOTRE DAME (5) 0-0 728 2 3 uTennessee (3) 0-0 686 6 4 uConnecticut (2) 0-0 683 3 5 Stanford (2) 0-0 681 4 6 Texas A&M (2) 0-0 635 1 7 Miami (Fla.) 0-0 557 16 8 uDuke 0-0 553 7 9 uLouisville 0-0 482 19 10 Maryland 0-0 416 23 11 uGeorgetown 0-0 415 14 12 Georgia 0-0 376 24 13 Florida State 0-0 332 20 14 Penn State 0-0 320 — 15 uKentucky 0-0 296 22 16 Oklahoma 0-0 262 15 17 uRutgers 0-0 245 — 18 uDePaul 0-0 182 10 19 North Carolina 0-0 172 12 20 Texas 0-0 161 — 21 uPurdue 0-0 149 — 22 LSU 0-0 143 — 23 uUSC 0-0 129 — 24 Wisconsin-Green Bay 0-0 127 9 25 Michigan State 0-0 88 18 Others Receiving Votes: Gonzaga 70, Ohio State 61, uUCLA 59, uSt. John’s 57, Marist 46, Xavier 41, Iowa 35, California 20, Iowa State 20, Vanderbilt 19, Georgia Tech 18, Dayton 16, Middle Tennessee 10, Temple 10, TCU 8, South Dakota State 7, Texas Tech 7, uMarquette 3, uSyracuse 2, uWest Virginia
1
, Houston 1, Memphis 1.LP = last poll
u = 2011-12 Notre Dame opponent (italics are potential opponents based upon tournament results)
potentially could set a new school record for exhibition game attendance. The current high-water mark for a preseason game is 7,508, set on Nov. 3, 2009, for a 97-53 win over NCAA Division II member Indianapolis.
Warming Up Quickly
In addition to Notre Dame’s team success in exhibition games, several Fighting Irish players also have performed well during preseason play. Here’s a brief thumbnail on how the returning Notre Dame players have done in exhibition games during their careers:
• Natalie Achonwa - 6 pts., 9 rebs., 3 blks.,
vs. Michigan Tech in 2010.
• Skylar Diggins - 14.5 ppg., 5.0 rpg., 2.5
spg.; 17 pts. vs. Indianapolis in 2009. • Brittany Mallory - 8.4 ppg., 2.8 apg., 1.8
spg.; 12 pts. vs. Indianapolis in 2009. • Kayla McBride - 14 pts., 8 rebs., 3 stls., vs. Michigan Tech in 2010. • Fraderica Miller - 5.7 ppg., 4.3 rpg., 2.3 spg.; 10 pts. vs. Michigan Tech in 2010. • Natalie Novosel - 16.0 ppg., 5.0 rpg., 4.7 spg.; 21 pts., 5 rebs., 6 stls. vs. Michigan Tech in 2010. • Devereaux Peters - 9.3 ppg., 6.3 rpg., 2.7 bpg.; 16 pts. and 7 rebs. vs. Southern Indi-ana in 2007. • Kaila Turner - 2.5 ppg., 2.0 spg.; 3 pts., 3
asst. vs. Michigan Tech in 2010.
2010-11 Exhibition Recap: Michigan Tech
Natalie Novosel scored a game-high 21 points,
including nine in a game-opening 17-0 run as the No. 12 Notre Dame women’s basketball team charged past Michigan Tech, 102-30, in the exhibition debut for both teams on Nov. 3, 2010, before an enthusiastic crowd of 7,464 at Purcell Pavilion.
Novosel connected on 8-of-11 shots from the field while adding a game-best six steals and five rebounds, all in just 18 minutes of ac-tion. She also led five Fighting Irish players in double figures, with Kayla McBride coming off
the bench to chip in 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Becca Bruszewski collected
13 points, six rebounds and four assists, while
Skylar Diggins piled up 12 points, six rebounds
and three assists.
Fraderica Miller rounded out the double-digit
scoring parade for Notre Dame with 10 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting, and Natalie Achonwa
posted game highs of nine rebounds and three blocks.
The Fighting Irish shot 54.3 percent (38-of-70) in their first action of the season, and outrebounded the Huskies, 53-18 (including 25 offensive rebounds), leading to a 26-0 edge in second-chance points. Notre Dame also forced 33 turnovers, with 25 of those coming on steals, and limited MTU to a .211 field goal percentage (8-of-38) for the game.
No player scored in double figures for Michigan Tech, which was trying to replace the graduation of all five starters from the previous year’s 31-3 squad that won its second consecu-tive NCAA Division II Midwest Regional title and returned to the NCAA Elite Eight. Lindsey Lind-strom and Paige Albi shared team-high scoring honors for the Huskies with six points apiece. Notre Dame wasted little time in taking con-trol, scoring the first 17 points of the contest in the opening 4:38 of play. In addition to Novosel’s nine points in the run, the Fighting Irish also forced Michigan Tech to commit six turnovers on its first seven possessions, with five of those giveaways coming via Notre Dame steals. Lindstrom finally broke the ice for the Huskies by connecting on a three-pointer from the left side exactly five minutes into the game. MTU seemed to stop the bleeding for the next four minutes, but then the Fighting Irish put together a 13-2 run right up to the eight-minute media timeout that hiked their lead to 37-7. Brittany Mallory tallied five points and
Achonwa added four markers in the surge. The Huskies again righted themselves tem-porarily, but Notre Dame then closed the half on a 15-3 run covering the final 6:08 of the period. Six different Fighting Irish players scored during that spree, led by Diggins’ five points, as Notre Dame took a 52-14 lead to the locker room. Defense continued to be the story for the Fighting Irish in the second half, as Notre Dame held Michigan Tech without a single field goal for 11:35 during the middle portion of the stanza. All 12 Fighting Irish players in uniform would eventually find their way into the scorebook, including their two walk-ons — Mary Forr and Veronica Badway — who each scored in the
final two minutes.
Noting The Michigan Tech Game
• Notre Dame posted its largest margin of vic-tory ever in an exhibition game (72 points), eclipsing the old record of 66 points set in a 2008 preseason win over Gannon (Pa.), 96-30.
• The Fighting Irish also tied the record for fewest points allowed in an exhibition, which had been set in that 2008 game against Gannon (and would have been broken had Michigan Tech’s Angela Guisfredi not banked in a three-pointer at the buzzer).
• Notre Dame topped the 100-point mark in exhibition play for the first time since 1998, when the Fighting Irish downed the Visby Ladies (a Swedish club), 111-82.
• The 102 points were the fourth-most points ever scored by Notre Dame in the preseason. • The Fighting Irish have scored at least 90 points in their last five exhibitions, averaging 96.2 points per game in that stretch, and winning those five contests by an average of 53.2 points per night.
• Notre Dame has forced a combined 115
Notre Dame In the Polls
Associated Press Poll
Weeks Ranked Week Pts Rank 11-12 All-Time
Oct. 29, 2011 (Pre) 934 (6) 2 1 217
SEASON HIGHS 934 (6) 2 1* 78* ESPN/USA Today/WBCA Coaches’ Poll
Weeks Ranked Week Pts Rank 11-12 All-Time
Nov. 1, 2011 (Pre) 728 (5) 2 1 210
SEASON HIGHS 728 (5) 2 1* 41* * = current streak of poll appearances // first-place votes in parentheses
4
2011-12 Notre Dame Women’s Basketballfighting irish women’s basketball 2011-12
NOTRE DAME
Windsor Series
turnovers in their last three exhibition games (an average of 38.3 per game).
• The Fighting Irish improved to 31-1 in exhibi-tion games since 1993-94, while extending their current winning streak in preseason play to 26 consecutive games.
• Notre Dame is 10-0 all-time against NCAA Division II teams in exhibition games, includ-ing a 5-0 record against teams from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).
• The attendance of 7,464 was the second-largest crowd ever for a Notre Dame women’s basketball exhibition, topped only by the audience of 7,508 for a 97-53 win over India-napolis on Nov. 3, 2009, at Purcell Pavilion.
Notre Dame Claims Top Spot In 2011-12
BIG EAST Coaches’ Preseason Poll
For the first time in its 17-year membership in the BIG EAST Conference, Notre Dame has been selected as the outright No. 1 team in the annual BIG EAST preseason women’s basketball poll, according to a vote of the league’s 16 head coaches released Oct. 20 during the 2011-12 BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Media Day at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City. In the closest vote since Notre Dame shared top honors with Connecticut in the 2002-03 BIG EAST preseason poll, the Fighting Irish picked up 219 points and nine first-place votes in the ballot-ing (coaches are not permitted to select their own teams), edging out Connecticut, which collected the remaining seven first-place votes and finished with 216 points. Louisville (191 points) was cho-sen third, while Rutgers (176 points) finished a close fourth ahead of Georgetown (175 points). The complete 2011-12 BIG EAST preseason coaches’ poll can be found in the sidebar on page 3 of this notes package.Fighting Irish Trio Earns Numerous
2011-12 Preseason Honors
Along with picking Notre Dame to finish first in the conference this year in their preseason poll, the BIG EAST coaches voted junior guard Skylar Diggins as the league’s Preseason Player of the
Year. Diggins is just the second Fighting Irish player to earn that honor, and the first since fellow South Bend Washington High School graduate and Notre Dame All-American Jacqueline Bat-teast did so prior to her senior season (2004-05).
Diggins also joined a pair of her teammates — senior guard Natalie Novosel and fifth-year
senior forward Devereaux Peters — on the
Preseason All-BIG EAST Team, with Novosel and Peters making the preseason squad for the first time, while Diggins was a unanimous choice for the preseason all-conference team for the second consecutive year.
Notre Dame’s three Preseason All-BIG EAST honorees (who also have been named pre-season candidates for this year’s Wade Trophy and Wooden Award, both of which go to the national player of the year) were more than any school, with three others having two selections (Connecticut had a third player earn honorable mention status).
Diggins — who added Associated Press Pre-season All-America honors to her trophy case
on Tuesday (the second Fighting Irish player to collect that status and first since Batteast in 2004-05) — put together one of the finest sopho-more seasons in Notre Dame women’s basketball history in 2010-11 while sparking the Fighting Irish to their second NCAA title game berth and third NCAA Women’s Final Four appearance. The crafty southpaw made a nearly-seamless transi-tion to the point guard position, ranking among the top 15 in the BIG EAST in scoring (15.0 ppg.), assists (team-high 4.8 apg.) and steals (1.9 spg.), posting career highs in all three areas. What’s more, her 585 total points and 186 total assists were the second-most ever accrued by a Notre Dame sophomore — Katryna Gaither scored
590 points in 1994-95, while Mary Gavin dished
out 205 assists in 1985-86 — and her 75 steals were fourth on the Fighting Irish sophomore charts (just eight off the school record), while her 1,226 total minutes were just one shy of Beth Morgan’s school record set in 1996-97.
A State Farm Coaches’ All-America and third-team AP All-America selection last year, Diggins also ranked second on the team with 32 double-digit scoring games, leading the squad in scoring 14 times and rolling up 10 20-point outings, including the last three NCAA Champion-ship games against Tennessee (24), Connecticut (season-high 28) and Texas A&M (23). She added at least five assists in 22 different games (after having seven five-assist games her entire fresh-man season), capped by a career-high 12 assists against Oklahoma in the NCAA Dayton Regional semifinal, the most helpers ever for a Fighting Irish player in the NCAA tournament, and most in any game since 2000.
A unanimous first-team all-BIG EAST selection, the NCAA Dayton Regional Most Outstanding Player and a member of the NCAA Women’s Final Four All-Tournament Team, as well as being a finalist for the three major national player-of-the- year awards (Wooden Award, Wade Trophy, Nai-smith Trophy) and the Nancy Lieberman Award (top point guard), Diggins also made history in that regional final win over Tennessee, becoming just the second Notre Dame player to score 1,000 career points in less than two seasons with the Fighting Irish (Morgan had exactly 1,000 points at the end of her sophomore season of 1994-95), and doing so in 72 games, tying for the fourth-fastest run to the scoring millennium in program history. Diggins currently ranks 24th on Notre Dame’s all-time scoring list with 1,069 points. Meanwhile, Novosel was easily one of the nation’s most improved players in 2010-11, nabbing State Farm Coaches’ honorable men-tion All-America and first-team all-BIG EAST laurels, as well as the BIG EAST’s Most Improved Player award, after more than tripling her scor-ing average from a year ago from 5.0 points to a team-high 15.1 points per game. She also scored in double figures a team-best 33 times, the second-highest single-season total in school history (Gaither had 37 double-digit games in 1996-97) and nearly doubled her combined total of 17 from her first two years. What’s more, Novosel had seven 20-point games (her career high entering the season was 19 points) and posted a team-best .413 three-point percentage, in addition to being second on the squad in steals (tied-1.9 spg.) and third in assists (1.9 apg.).
First Meeting
THE TALE OF THE TAPE*
ND UWOverall/conference record 31-8/13-3 34-2/20-2
AP/ESPN-USA Today poll 9/7 2**
SCORING Points scored per game 77.0 76.4 Points allowed per game 56.2 52.2 Field goal percentage .480 .449 Three-point percentage .361 .312 Free throw percentage .717 .780 REBOUNDING Rebounds per game 40.6 43.8 Opponent rebs. per game 32.3 30.4 Rebounding margin +8.3 +13.4 OTHER
Assists per game 17.2 16.6
Turnovers per game 17.7 19.1
Assist/turnover ratio 0.97 0.87
Blocked shots per game 4.3 5.4
Steals per game 12.7 12.5
* - all statistics from 2010-11 season; ** - CIS preseason poll
2011-12 Notre Dame Women’s Basketball
In 2010-11, Novosel set a new school re-cord with 183 free throws made and 39 games started (tying with Peters and Becca Brusze-wski), while her 232 free throw attempts were
second-most in school history. In addition, she placed among the top 10 on the program’s single-season charts for total points (7th - 588) and minutes played (9th - 1,102).
Peters (who garnered honorable mention preseason All-America status from the AP on Tuesday) also enjoyed her finest season at Notre Dame in 2010-11, having fully recovered from a pair of knee injuries earlier in her career. Peters set new career highs in virtually every category, ranking third on the team in scoring (11.9 ppg.) and tops in double-doubles (10), rebounding (7.5 rpg.), field goal percentage (.593), and blocked shots (1.7 bpg.), not to mention fourth in steals (1.7 spg.). Furthermore, she placed fifth in the country in field goal percentage, and ranked among the BIG EAST leaders in scoring (22nd), rebounding (6th), field goal percentage (2nd), blocked shots (4th) and double-doubles (2nd). As if that weren’t enough, she was one of just two players in the nation to record at least 60 blocks and 60 steals last season (she had 68 blocks and 66 steals), joining Illinois’ Karisma Penn (78/62) in that select company.
Like Novosel, Peters was named a State Farm Coaches’ honorable mention All-America and first-team all-BIG EAST selection in 2010-11, while also taking home BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year honors. She scored in double figures 25 times and tied the school record by starting all 39 games during Notre Dame’s run to the NCAA national championship game. In that title clash against Texas A&M, Peters rang up a double-double with 21 points (on 8-of-10 shooting) and a game-high 11 rebounds, secur-ing her place on the NCAA Women’s Final Four All-Tournament Team.
Polling Station
Notre Dame is ranked No. 2 in the 2011-12 preseason Associated Press poll, released on Oct. 29. It’s the highest the Fighting Irish have ever been ranked in the AP preseason survey, topping their No. 4 debut in 2009-10. Notre Dame also received six first-place votes in the 2011-12 AP preseason poll, the first time it has received consideration for the top spot since March 11, 2001, when the Fighting Irish earned five first-place votes (they were ranked No. 2 after falling at Connecticut, 79-76 in the BIG EAST tournament final). The previous week, Notre Dame had 33 first-place votes as part of its sixth week with the No. 1 ranking in the AP poll.
This latest preseason ranking marks the 78th consecutive AP poll appearance for the Fighting Irish, extending the program record that started with the AP preseason poll in 2007-08 (the old record was 59 consecutive weeks from 1998-2001). In fact, every current Notre Dame player has competed for a ranked Fighting Irish squad throughout her career, spending more than half (40) of those appearances in the AP Top 10.
This year’s No. 2 ranking also represents the 12th time in the past 13 years (starting with the 1999-2000 campaign) that Notre Dame has appeared in the preseason AP poll, something
only nine schools in the nation have done — Connecticut, Duke and Tennessee have shown up in all 13 during that span, while Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Stanford join the Fighting Irish with
12 preseason AP poll berths.
Notre Dame has been ranked in the AP poll for 217 weeks during the program’s 35-year history, with every one of those ap-pearances coming in the Muffet McGraw
era (since 1987-88). McGraw ranks 11th among all active NCAA Division I head coaches for weeks in the AP poll, and also is 22nd all-time in that category.
In addition, the Fighting Irish are ranked No. 2 in the preseason ESPN/USA Today/WBCA coaches’ poll, and like the AP poll, it’s Notre Dame’s best-ever preseason ranking, topping its No. 5 placement to begin the 2000-01 campaign. The Fighting Irish also collected five first-place votes in this year’s preseason coaches’ survey, their first nods for the top spot since the final ’00-01 balloting, when they received all 40 first-place votes after winning the national championship. Notre Dame has been ranked in the coaches’ poll for 79 of the past 80 weeks, falling just out-side the Top 25 in the final poll of the 2008-09 season. Nevertheless, the Fighting Irish have appeared in the coaches’ poll for a total of 210 weeks during their history (all coming during McGraw’s tenure).
This marks the fourth consecutive season Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 10 of the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA poll, as well as 10 of the past 14 campaigns (1998-99 to present).
More Polling Data
N o t re D a m e h e a d
coach Muffet McGraw
is one of 31 people in NCAA Division I wom-en’s basketball history who have both played for and coached a team that has appeared in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Besides her 217 AP poll appearances while coaching at Notre Dame, McGraw was the starting point guard at Saint Joseph’s (Pa.) as a senior in 1977, help-ing the Hawks to No. 3 in the nation.
Of the 31 people on this list, 16 currently are NCAA Division I head coaches (see ac-companying chart), with McGraw and Baylor’s
Kim Mulkey are the
only active skippers to play for and coach a team
2010-11 T
rends
Day of the Week
Sunday 6-1 Monday 5-1 Tuesday 4-2 Wednesday 4-1 Thursday 1-1 Friday 2-0 Saturday 9-2 Time of Game Day games (before 6 p.m local time) 15-3
Night games (6 p.m. or later local time) 16-5
Location
Home games 15-2
Road games 8-5
Neutral site games 8-1
Halftime score Leading at the half 28-1 Tied at the half 0-2 Trailing at the half 3-5 Individual scoring Two or fewer double-figure scorers 3-2 Three double-figure scorers 7-3 Four double-figure scorers 16-3 Five or more double-figure scorers 5-0 Rebounding margin Grab more rebounds than opponents 27-3 Grab same number of rebounds 0-2 Grab fewer rebounds than opponents 4-3
Field goal shooting
Higher pct. than opponent 29-3 Same pct. as opponent 1-0 Lower pct. than opponent 1-5 Shoot 45% or better 26-3 Shoot less than 45% 5-5 Hold opponent under 40% 24-1
Free throw margin
Make more free throws 28-2
Make same number of free throws 1-2
Make fewer free throws 2-4
Turnovers
Commit fewer turnovers 24-3
Commit same number of turnovers 2-0
Commit more turnovers 5-5
Miscellaneous
Vs. Top 25 (AP or ESPN/USA Today polls) 8-8
On commercial television 11-6 In white jerseys 15-1 In alternate white jerseys (green trim) 4-1 In alternate white jerseys (pink trim) 1-0 In blue jerseys 9-4 In green jerseys 2-2 Margin of Victory 1-5 points 1-4 6-10 points 4-2 11-15 points 5-1 16-20 points 3-0 21+ points 18-1 In overtime games 0-1 Conference Affiliation America East 1-0 Atlantic Coast 1-0 Atlantic 10 1-0 BIG EAST 16-4 Big Ten 1-0 Big 12 1-2 Horizon League 2-0 Missouri Valley 1-0 Mountain West 1-0 Ohio Valley 2-0 Pac-10 0-1 Southeastern 1-1 Summit League 1-0 West Coast 2-0 Month November 5-2 December 6-1 January 7-1 February 6-2 March 5-1 April 1-1 AP Poll Appearances Active D-I Coaches
1. Summitt (Tenn) 600 2. Landers (UGa) 461 3. VanDerveer (Stan) 408 10. Blair (TAMU) 247
11. uMcGraw (ND) 217 All-Time D-I Coaches
1. Summitt (Tenn) 600 2. Landers (UGa) 461 3. VanDerveer (Stan) 408 20. Weller (Md) 227 21. Grentz (Illinois) 225 22. uMcGraw (ND) 217 NOTE: through Oct. 29 AP poll; most recent team coached is listed
AP Poll Appearances As Player & Coach
(active coaches only)
Amanda Butler (Florida) Cori Close (UCLA) Sylvia Crawley (Boston Coll.) June Daugherty (Wash. St.) Nell Fortner (Auburn) MaChelle Joseph (Ga. Tech) Joanne McCallie (Duke) uMuffet McGraw (ND) Katie Meier (Miami-Fla.) Kim Mulkey (Baylor) Kathy Olivier (UNLV) Jennifer Rizzotti (Hartford) Dawn Staley (S. Carolina) Charli Turner Thorne (Ariz. St.) Coquese Washington (Penn St.) Terri Williams-Flournoy (G’town)
NOTES: Current teams listed … all coaches shown have made AP poll with current teams except Daugh-erty (did so at Boise State and Washington), Olivier (UCLA) and Staley (Temple) … Butler and Olivier are coaching at their alma maters … Turner-Thorne is on sabbatical for the 2011-12 season.
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2011-12 Notre Dame Women’s Basketballfighting irish women’s basketball 2011-12
NOTRE DAME
in the AP poll, and coach that team to a national title (McGraw in 2001, Mulkey in 2005).
Half And Half
During the past 11 seasons, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Fighting Irish are 216-18 (.923) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 144 of their last 156 such contests.
Notre Dame had a two-year streak of 53 consecutive wins when leading at the half before falling to Texas A&M, 76-70, on April 5, 2011, in the NCAA national championship game at Con-seco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (Notre Dame led 35-33 at intermission).
Despite that season-ending loss, the Fighting Irish went 28-1 last year when they were up at the break.
The Best Offense Is A Good Defense…
During the past 17 seasons, Notre Dame has discovered that a solid defensive effort can almost certainly guarantee a victory. In fact, since the beginning of the 1995-96 sea-son (Notre Dame’s first in the BIG EAST Conference), the Fighting Irish have an amaz-ing 231-15 (.939) record when they hold their opponents below 60 points in a game, includ-ing victories in 23 contests last season (New Hampshire, Morehead State, IUPUI, Butler, Purdue, Providence, Creighton, Valparaiso, Loyola Marymount, Southeast Missouri State, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, St. John’s, Villanova, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Louisville, Utah, Oklahoma, Tennessee).…But Sometimes You Have To Score If
You Want To Win
Not resting solely on its defensive laurels, Notre Dame also seemingly has found the magic mark when it comes to outscoring its opponents. During the past 17 seasons (since 1995-96), the Fighting Irish are 153-5 (.968) when they score at least 80 points in a game. The only blemishes on that record are three overtime losses to Texas A&M (88-84) and Michigan State (87-83) in 1995 and UCLA (86-83 in double OT) in 2010, as well as a 106-81 loss to Connecticut in 1998, and an 81-80 loss to DePaul in 2008.
In the past two years, Notre Dame is 30-1 when topping the 80-point mark, including a 13-1 record last season (the exception being the aforementioned double-overtime loss to UCLA).
Irish Are The Hottest Ticket In Town
The past two seasons have seen an unprec-edented surge in fan support for Notre Dame women’s basketball, as the Fighting Irish set new program records for the highest year-end NCAA attendance ranking (fourth in 2009-10), highest average attendance (8,553 fans per game in 2010-11) and most sellouts in a single season (six in 2009-10). And, as the old saying goes — “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”For the third consecutive preseason, Notre
Dame fans all but exhausted the program’s season ticket packages (close to 7,500) and have snapped up single-game ducats at a rate that helped the Fighting Irish already sell out the Jan. 23 game with Tennessee, push the Jan. 7 Connecticut game to a virtual sell-out, and put four other games (Dec. 20 vs. Central Florida, Feb. 5 vs. DePaul, Feb. 12 vs. West Virginia and Feb. 25 vs. South Florida) within striking distance of a sell out.
In fact, while some additional tickets may be available on the day or week of the game for individual contests this season (depending on returned inventory by visiting teams and other constituencies), it’s entirely possible that Notre Dame will flirt with a sell out for every one of its home games during the 2010-11 regular season.
Hall of Fame Coach Muffet McGraw
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw, the 2001 consensus national coach of the year and winner of nearly 650 games in her illustrious career, offically was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame during a gala ceremony on June 11, 2011, at the Bijou Theatre in Knox-ville, Tenn.McGraw was one of six people — and the lone coach — named to the 2011 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class. The others in McGraw’s Hall of Fame class included former Olympic gold medalists Ruthie Bolton (Auburn)
and Vicky
Bullett (Maryland), as well as Val Ack-erman, the first WNBA president (1996-2005) and first female president of USA Basketball (2005-08), and a pair of three-time All-America players from the pre-NCAA era, Pearl Moore
(Frances Marion) and Lometa Odom (Wayland
Baptist).
In addition, the legendary All-American Red Heads, one of the nation’s first women’s bas-ketball teams which barnstormed around the country from 1936-86, were honored for their contributions to the game with a display at the Hall entitled “Trailblazers of the Game,” that was
Quick Facts
Notre Dame Quick Facts
Official Name: University of Notre Dame Location: Notre Dame, Ind.Enrollment: 8,363 (undergraduate) / 11,731 (overall) Founded: 1842
Colors: Gold and Blue Nickname: Fighting Irish
School Fight Song: Notre Dame Victory March Conference: BIG EAST
Arena: Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center (cap. 9,149) President: Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
Provost: Thomas G. Burish
Executive Vice President: John Affleck-Graves NCAA Faculty Representative: Patricia Bellia Director of Athletics: Jack Swarbrick
Senior Deputy Athletics Director/SWA: Missy Conboy Associate Athletics Director (WBB): Jill Bodensteiner Head Coach: Muffet McGraw (Saint Joseph’s (Pa.) ’77)
Record: 644-252 (.719) - 30th season At Notre Dame: 556-211 (.725) - 25th season At Purcell Pavilion: 277-54 (.837)
Associate Head Coach:
Jonathan Tsipis (North Carolina ’96) - 9th season
Associate Coach:
Carol Owens (Northern Illinois ’90) - 12th season
Assistant Coach:
Niele Ivey (Notre Dame ’00) - 5th season
Coordinator of Basketball Operations:
Stephanie Menio (Pittsburgh ’04) - 7th season
Associate Director of Operations & Technology:
Angie Potthoff (Penn State ’97) - 7th season
Athletic Trainer: Anne Marquez
Strength & Conditioning Coach: Craig Cheek Academic Counselor: Chad Grotegut Equipment Manager: Kathy Speybroeck Student Managers:
Lucy Eckard (Sr., Orinda, Calif.) Nick Sigmund (Sr., Lakewood, Ill.)
Women’s Basketball History
35th Season:1st game, Dec. 3, 1977 vs. Valparaiso (W, 48-41)
All-Time Record: 720-310 (.699) Record At Purcell Pavilion:
35th season, 354-88 (.801)
Record In The BIG EAST (regular season):
17th season, 201-63 (.761) Conference/Membership Affiliations: AIAW D-III independent (1977-78 through 1979-80) AIAW D-I independent (1980-81) NCAA D-I independent (1981-82 through 1982-83) North Star (1983-84 through 1987-88) *Midwestern Collegiate (1988-89 through 1994-95) BIG EAST (1995-96 to present)
Regular-Season Conference Championships (8):
North Star - 1985, 1986
*Midwestern Collegiate - 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995 BIG EAST - 2001
Conference Tournament Championships (5):
North Star - N/A
*Midwestern Collegiate - 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994 BIG EAST - None
NCAA Championship Appearances (18):
National Champion - 2001 National Finalist - 2011 Final Four - 1997, 2001, 2011 Elite 8 - 1997, 2001, 2011 Sweet 16 - 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2011 Berths - 1994, 1996-2011
Consecutive NCAA Championship Appearances:
16 (1996-present)
NIT Appearances (4):
1986 (3rd place), 1989 (7th place), 1991 (8th place), 1995 (3rd place)
Consecutive Postseason Appearances:
18 (1994-present); 17 NCAAs, 1 NIT
* - now known as the Horizon League
2010-11 Notre Dame Top Bench Scorers
Player Points Opponent/Date
Kayla McBride 20 vs. Loyola Marymount, 12/30/10
Kayla McBride 17 SE Missouri State, 1/2/11
Natalie Achonwa 14 at South Florida, 2/5/11
Kayla McBride 14 Louisville, 1/12/11
Natalie Achonwa 14 Creighton, 12/11/10
Erica Solomon 14 Wake Forest, 11/27/10
Kayla McBride 14 Morehead State, 11/15/10
Natalie Achonwa 13 Syracuse, 2/1/11
Natalie Achonwa 13 at Providence, 12/8/10 Natalie Achonwa 12 at Connecticut, 3/8/11
Skylar Diggins 12 Cincinnati, 2/26/11
Natalie Achonwa 12 Seton Hall, 2/8/11 Natalie Achonwa 12 at Marquette, 1/5/11 Natalie Achonwa 12 at Valparaiso, 12/20/10 Natalie Achonwa 12 Purdue, 12/5/10 Erica Solomon 12 IUPUI, 11/26/10 Erica Solomon 11 at Providence, 12/8/10 Natalie Achonwa 11 Wake Forest, 11/27/10 Kayla McBride 11 UCLA, 11/18/10 Erica Solomon 11 New Hampshire, 11/12/10 Natalie Achonwa 10 vs. Oklahoma, 3/26/11 Natalie Achonwa 10 vs. Temple, 3/21/11 Ariel Braker 10 IUPUI, 11/26/10 Natalie Achonwa 10 Morehead State, 11/15/10 Kaila Turner 10 Morehead State, 11/15/10
Game-high scorers in italics
2011-12 Notre Dame Women’s Basketball
Superlatives (BIG EAST Era)
unveiled during the 2011 Induction Weekend.McGraw is the first Notre Dame selection for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The Fighting Irish skipper also became the third BIG EAST Conference coach chosen for the honor, joining Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer (2001) and
Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma (2006) in that
elite company. Seton Hall head coach Anne Donovan also was a member of the Women’s
Basketball Hall of Fame inaugural class in 1999, going in primarily for her accomplishments as a player at Old Dominion.
McGraw also was the seventh active college head coach to enter the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame on the basis of her success on the sidelines. Besides Stringer and Auriemma, the others on this notable list are: Pat Summitt
(1999 - Tennessee), Tara VanDerveer (2002 -
Stanford), Sylvia Hatchell (2004 - North
Caro-lina) and Andy Landers (2007 - Georgia).
Fighting Irish On Your Radio Dial
Beginning with the 2008-09 athletics year, the Notre Dame athletics department announced it had partnered with the LeSEA Broadcasting Network, making Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) the new radio home of Notre Dame women’s basketball in the South Bend market.
LeSEA originates all Notre Dame wom-en’s basketball games, with those events carried on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1), marking a return to the FM side of the dial for the first time since the 1998-99 season. Combined, these two stations blanket the nation’s No. 91 media market (South Bend-Elkhart), cover-ing a 21-county area in northern Indiana and southwest Michigan that contains more than 1.4 million listeners (better than 800,000 in the greater South Bend area alone). All told, Notre Dame’s women’s basketball network stretches from Kalamazoo, Mich., to the north, North Judson, Ind., to the west, Macy, Ind., (home of former Fighting Irish All-America center Ruth Riley) to the south, and LaGrange, Ind., to the
east.
Women’s basketball game broadcasts also continue to be streamed live and free of charge on Notre Dame’s official athletics web site (www.UND.com) through the Fighting Irish Digital Media package.
Bob
Nagle, the voice of Notre Dame wom-en’s basketball from 1996-97 through 1998-99 (including the program’s first NCAA Final Four berth in 1997), returns for his fourth season in his second stint as the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame On The Small Screen
Notre Dame will have at least 23 regular sea- son games televised during the 2011-12 sea- son. Highlighting this year’s broadcast sched-ule are 11 nationally- or regionally-televised Fighting Irish women’s basketball contests, including the program’s fifth-ever appearance on network television, and second in as many years (Jan. 7 vs. Connecticut on CBS) and six showings on the ESPN family of networks, including three appearances on that entity’s famed “Big Monday” telecast.In addition, Notre Dame continues to expand its broadcast reach globally on the
Internet. For the sixth consecutive season, all Fighting Irish regular-season home games not selected for commercial TV coverage (as well as Wednesday’s exhibition vs. Windsor) will be webcast live on the official Notre Dame athlet-ics web site, www.UND.com, via the site’s free Fighting Irish Video Channel.
This year’s TV slate continues a trend that has seen the Fighting Irish become a regular fixture on television. Beginning with the NCAA championship season of 2000-01 and continu-ing through last year’s national championship game vs. Texas A&M (televised live nation-ally on ESPNHD), Notre Dame has played in 200 televised games, including 145 that were broadcast nationally.
Oh Captain, My Captain
Fifth-year senior guard Brittany Mallory,
senior guard Natalie Novosel and fifth-year
senior forward Devereaux Peters are serving
as Notre Dame’s team captains for the 2011-12 season. Mallory is in her second season as team captain, while Novosel and Peters received the captain’s honor for the first time in their respective careers following a preseason vote by their teammates.
Notre Dame Breaks New Ground With
“Heart of the Irish” Service Initiative
For the third consecutive year, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team will be front and center in the South Bend and greater Michiana communities with its groundbreak-ing outreach program (renamed “Heart of the Irish”), which will involve numerous interactiveevents during the 2011-12 season. The goal of this year’s “Heart of the Irish” program is to highlight community leaders who are making a difference, as well as encourage fans to give back to their community and make an impact through a variety of special initiatives. The expanded “Heart of the Irish” sched-ule gets underway at 7 p.m. (ET) on Nov. 11, when Notre Dame opens its regular season schedule against Akron in the first round of the Preseason WNIT at Purcell Pavilion. That game will feature Notre Dame’s first-ever Proud To Be An American event, honoring those who have served our country on the occasion of Veterans Day. There also will be a special recognition ceremony at halftime as part of the tipoff for this year’s “Heart of the Irish” series. The first of five cornerstone events for the 2011-12 “Heart of the Irish” drive will take place on Dec. 2, when Notre Dame plays
host to Pennsylvania in a 7 p.m. (ET) game at Purcell Pavilion. During that game, the Fighting Irish will hold their annual Teddy Bear Toss, collecting new teddy bears and other
stuffed animals for patients at Riley Children’s Hospital, which serves many Michiana chil-dren, as well as local youth patients. The highlight of the event comes at halftime, when fans are invited to toss their stuffed animals onto the court, where they are then collected by volunteers.
Less than one week after the Teddy Bear Toss, Notre Dame will have a second outreach event called Food For Friends, to be held in
Notre Dame Superlatives In The
BIG EAST Era (1995-96 to present)
Longest winning streak: 23 games (Nov. 17, 2000-Feb.14, 2001)
Longest BIG EAST winning streak: 15 games (Jan.
5-Feb. 22, 2000)
Longest losing streak: 3 games, four times (most
recently: Feb. 24-March 3, 2007)
Longest BIG EAST losing streak: 3 games, twice
(most recently: Feb. 24-March 3, 2007)
Most points scored in a game: 111 vs. West Virginia,
Jan. 7, 1999
Most points scored in a BIG EAST game: 111 vs.
West Virginia, Jan. 7, 1999
Fewest points scored in a game: 38 vs. Villanova, Jan.
24, 2004
Fewest points scored in a BIG EAST game: 38 vs.
Villanova, Jan. 24, 2004
Most points allowed in a game: 106 by Connecticut,
Dec. 8, 1998
Most points allowed in a BIG EAST game: 106 by
Connecticut, Dec. 8, 1998
*Fewest points allowed in a game: 21 by Southeast
Missouri State, Jan. 2, 2011
Fewest points allowed in a BIG EAST game: 31 by St.
John’s, Feb. 13, 2002
*Largest margin of victory: 76 vs. Southeast Missouri
State (97-21), Jan. 2, 2011
Largest margin of victory in BIG EAST game: 56 vs.
Seton Hall (91-35), Jan. 31, 1998
*Largest margin of victory in home game: 76 vs.
Southeast Missouri State (97-21), Jan. 2, 2011
Largest margin of victory in road game: 53 at Central
Michigan (94-41), Nov. 29, 2007
Largest losing margin: 39 at Tennessee (89-50), March
17, 2002
Most points allowed in a win: 93 by Illinois (101-93),
Nov. 24, 1998
Most points scored in a
loss: 84 vs. Texas A&M (88-84, ot), Dec. 3, 1995
Fewest points scored in a
win: 38 vs. Villanova (38-36), Jan. 24, 2004
Fewest points allowed in a
loss: 48 vs. Villanova (48-45), Feb. 26, 2002
Largest deficit overcome to win a game: 18 at
Vanderbilt (59-57), Dec. 30, 2008
Largest deficit overcome to win a home game: 15 vs.
Pittsburgh (72-65), Feb. 28, 2006
Largest lead given up in a loss: 17 vs. Texas Tech
(69-65), March 25, 2000
*Most consecutive points scored: 36 vs. Southeast
Missouri State (97-21), Jan. 2, 2011
*Most consecutive points scored (start of game): 36
vs. Southeast Missouri State (97-21), Jan. 2, 2011
Highest field goal percentage: .680 (34-50) vs. Boston
College, Feb. 12, 1997
Lowest field goal percentage: .220 (13-59) at Seton
Hall, March 1, 2005
Highest three-point percentage: 1.000 (5-5) vs. Duke,
Nov. 17, 2004
Highest free throw percentage: 1.000 (18-18) at
Valparaiso, Nov. 30, 2004
Most three-point field goals made: 13, twice (most
recently: at Miami (Fla.), Jan. 2, 2002)
*Most free throws made: 37 vs. Wake Forest, Nov.
27, 2010
Most assists: 32 vs. Michigan State, Dec. 11, 1999 Most blocked shots: 16 vs. Boston College,
Feb. 10, 2002
*Most steals: 36 vs. New Hampshire, Nov. 12, 2010 *Most turnovers forced: 49 vs. New Hampshire,
Nov. 12, 2010
Fewest turnovers committed: 3 at Maryland,
Nov. 16, 2007
* - records set during 2010-11 season
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2011-12 Notre Dame Women’s Basketballfighting irish women’s basketball 2011-12
